CF happy with numbers; enrollment looking OK

College of Central Florida officials say it appears enrollment will rise by a few percent this fall — great news considering officials had anticipated a 5 percent decline for 2013-14.

By Joe CallahanStaff writer

College of Central Florida officials say it appears enrollment will rise by a few percent this fall — great news considering officials had anticipated a 5 percent decline for 2013-14.Timothy Wise, CF's vice president of student affairs, said fall enrollment is up by 3.61 percent in actual head count and 2.63 percent in full-time equivalency hours.Wise said the figures are based on year-over-year enrollment data on the same date. Wise said returning students and high school students in dual-enrollment have already registered. He said now that the new students have started enrolling, the numbers look promising for when the fall term begins in about a month."Numbers are boding well," Wise said. "We'll be happy if we end up breaking even."CF's summer enrollment was down by 2.5 percent, the fifth consecutive term that enrollment dropped. But that decline was half what officials had estimated.Enrollment numbers are important because of the budget. CF's financial team crafted the 2013-14 budget anticipating a 5 percent decline in enrollment for the year.Factoring in a 5 percent drop in tuition fees, along with the rising costs of insurance and utilities, CF officials settled on a $37 million budget — $2.4 million less than 2012-13's record budget of $39.4 million.In response to the anticipated shortfall, CF laid off 11 people and chose not to fill 17 vacant positions.The budget included adding $1 million more into its reserve fund for emergencies, such as storm recovery. Officials also sank another $1 million into reserves because they feared student enrollment could decline by even more than 5 percent.Additional revenue generated from better-than-expected enrollment numbers is spent on personnel — professors, adjuncts and/or support personnel — to support the extra students.CF hit a record high enrollment of 9,049 in fall 2011 — a 40 percent increase in about three years. Since then, there has been a steady decline.In the spring, enrollment declined by 1.4 percent and summer it was 2.5 percent. CF officials say an improving economy has led more people back to work and out of college classrooms.Wise said as the economy grows, more students are working and taking fewer classes. Statewide enrollment has declined by more than 5 percent in the past year. Though experts statewide anticipate enrollment at state colleges to continue to decline for several more years, CF officials hope extreme declines are over and enrollment is finally leveling off.Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him of Twitter at JoeOcalaNews.